Once the toast of the magazine world as Editor-in-Chief of Psychology Today, Mother Earth News, and Spy - simultaneously; Owen Lipstein informed the nation's pop culture by tapping into trends. But it was a ride not unlike a vessel upon the Hudson, one of ebbs and flows.
"I think, as a body of water, rivers to me are the most interesting. They have movement, directions. In this case, it's tidal, meaning it literally has the ebbs and flows of the planets," says Lipstein. "To me, the best two books in the English language - Heart of Darkness and Huckleberry Finn - were written about the river. And if you're going to ask me if I identify with those characters, the answer is yes."
In 1996, Owen left the publishing world, retiring to the serenity of a one-hundred-acre tract along the river in Athens. Here, Owen fills his time by juggling a vaiety of ambitious creative projects all over the Hudson Valley. Along with the Stewart House Hotel and River Tavern in Athens, he directs and produces Shakespeare on the Hudson, owns and operates a successful Hudson Valley magazine called InsideOUT, and has recently launched a record lable called Stewart House Records.
Retired? Hardly.
Inspired? Absolutely.
